Mesh-based spherical deconvolution: A flexible approach to reconstruction of non-negative fiber orientation distributions
Source: NeuroImage
2010 Apr;(51):1071-1081.
Author: Patel V, Shi Y, Thompson PM, Toga AW
Abstract:
Diffusion-weighted MRI has enabled the imaging of white matter architecture in vivo. Fiber orientations have
classically been assumed to lie along the major eigenvector of the diffusion tensor, but this approach has wellcharacterized
shortcomings in voxels containing multiple fiber populations. Recently proposed methods for
recovery of fiber orientation via spherical deconvolution utilize a spherical harmonics framework and are
susceptible to noise, yielding physically-invalid results even when additional measures are taken to minimize
such artifacts. In thiswork, we reformulate the spherical deconvolution problem onto a discrete spherical mesh.
We demonstrate how this formulation enables the estimation of fiber orientation distributions which strictly
satisfy the physical constraints of realness, symmetry, and non-negativity.Moreover, we analyze the influence of
the flexible regularization parameters included in our formulation for tuning thesmoothness of the resultant fiber
orientation distribution (FOD).Weshowthat themethod is robust and reliable by reconstructing known crossing
fiber anatomy in multiple subjects. Finally, we provide a software tool for computing the FOD using our new
formulation in hopes of simplifying and encouraging the adoption of spherical deconvolution techniques.